UK makes new attempt to access Apple cloud data

The UK government has ordered Apple to allow access to encrypted cloud backups of British users, after a previous attempt to issue a broader demand that included US customers drew a furious backlash from the Trump administration.

The UK Home Office demanded in early September that Apple create a backdoor into users’ cloud storage service, but stipulated that the order applied only to British citizens’ data, according to people briefed on the matter.

A previous technical capability notice (TCN) issued in January sought global access to encrypted user data. That move sparked a diplomatic clash between the UK and US governments and threatened to derail the two nations’ efforts to secure a trade agreement. 

In February, Apple withdrew its most secure cloud storage service, iCloud Advanced Data Protection, from the UK.

“Apple is still unable to offer Advanced Data Protection in the United Kingdom to new users,” Apple said on Wednesday. “We are gravely disappointed that the protections provided by ADP are not available to our customers in the UK given the continuing rise of data breaches and other threats to customer privacy.”

It added: “As we have said many times before, we have never built a back door or master key to any of our products or services and we never will.”

The Home Office said: “We do not comment on operational matters, including, for example, confirming or denying the existence of any such notices.

“We will always take all actions necessary at the domestic level to keep UK citizens safe.”

Both Apple and the Home Office are restricted from discussing TCNs by law.

Privacy campaigners say that any attempt to force Apple to compromise the security of its systems could put at risk global customers’ private information, including passwords, message history and health data, which can all be stored in iCloud. 

Caroline Wilson Palow, legal director of the campaign group Privacy International, said the new order might be “just as big a threat to worldwide security and privacy” as the old one.

She said: “If Apple breaks end-to-end encryption for the UK, it breaks it for everyone. The resulting vulnerability can be exploited by hostile states, criminals and other bad actors the world over.”

Apple made a complaint to the Investigatory Powers Tribunal over the original demand, backed by a parallel legal challenge from Privacy International and Liberty, another campaign group. That case was due to be heard early next year but the new order may restart the legal process. 

TCNs are issued under the UK Investigatory Powers Act, which the government maintains is needed by law enforcement to investigate terrorism and child sexual abuse.

Key figures in President Donald Trump’s administration, including vice-president JD Vance and director of national intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, had pressured the UK to retract the January TCN. Trump has likened the UK’s request to Chinese state surveillance. 

In August, Gabbard told the Financial Times that the UK had “agreed to drop” its demand that Apple enable access to “the protected encrypted data of American citizens”. 

A person close to the Trump administration said at the time that the request for Apple to break its encryption would have to be dropped altogether to be faithful to the agreement between the two countries. Any back door would weaken protections for US citizens, the person said.

UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer last month hosted Trump for a state visit, during which the two world leaders announced that US tech companies would invest billions of dollars to build artificial intelligence infrastructure in Britain. 

Members of the US delegation raised the issue of the request to Apple around the time of Trump’s visit, according to two people briefed on the matter. However, two senior British government figures said the US administration was no longer leaning on the UK government to rescind the order.